Sunday, June 30, 2013

In our previous post, we showed you how the Advanced Writing class of the Loyola Intensive English Program began our summer session by creating advertisements of their own in preparation for writing an essay analyzing an actual online, television, or magazine advertisement. In this post and in our next one, we would like to share with you two exemplary essays written by students in the class. We begin here with the essay of Felix Garmendia of Venezuela, who chose to analyze the advertising strategies used by Apple in a video promoting the iPhone 5.

Selling a product can be hard if the right TV commercial strategy is not
used.It will be possible to see
an example of how a successful company like Apple uses advertising strategies
to promote one of their cell phones known as the iPhone 5.

In the last TV commercial made by Apple, some of the executive directors
of the different departments describe the quality improvements they made to the
iPhone 5. In the commercial they talk about the iPhone 5 while they show
different scenes related to the subject that they are talking about.

APPEAL TO THE HUMAN QUEST FOR AN
EASY LIFE

The useful applications of the iPhone 5 is one of
the most competitive characteristics of this new model of cell-phone. In the TV
commercial, the executive talks about how useful the iPhone 5 applications are
and how they were designed to provide solutions to daily life problems. Currently,
people live in a very busy world. Everyone has to do many things at the same
time. Teenagers have to attend school to do their homework and sometimes to practice
sports or social activities. They need to socialize with many groups of people.
On the other hand, the adults also have to do several activities: to work, to
study in the university, to exercise, to pay bills, to take care of the
children´s education, and to spend time with the family and friends. Each age
group has a busy life and many different activities. They have something in
common; they feel the necessity to be connected socially.

With this strategy, Apple offers to make people´s life easier using the iPhone
5 applications.

Fast Access
to the Internet. In the first scene the
Senior Vice President of Apple talks about the functionality of this new model
of iPhone. He talks about the fast Internet access, while a person opens several
web pages at the same time using an iPhone 5. In the modern world people have
many available options to make daily life easier using the Internet. It is possible
to pay the utilities of the house or the business, to pay the tuition of the
children´s college or the university, to buy something that we need, to check
the emails, or to read the news while we are waiting in the doctor´s room or in
the subway. With this strategy, Apple wants to gain customers of different ages
and occupations.

Useful
Applications. In this scene the Software Senior
Vice President talks about the characteristics of some applications designed
for the cell phone.

High
resolution camera. In the TV commercial while
the Senior Vice President is talking, a man is taking a picture of some friends
playing basketball. Then, he posts it in Facebook, which is one of the most
visited websites around the world. Every day we see an increase in the use of
cell phone cameras. The tech companies are becoming more competitive to provide
more attractive options to their cell phone cameras. The cell phone companies
are designing great functional cameras with high resolution. Social media like
Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram have become an important part of the life of a
large number of people around the world. In the TV commercial, the people who
use these applications every day find that the iPhone 5 is the best cell phone option.

Video
chat using the iPhone 5. In the TV commercial,
there is a scene where a mom, with her newborn, is having a video chat with the
husband who is working out of town. In many countries, especially in the United
States, it is common to see people in long distance relationship who have to
live apart from their family for several reasons. For instance, some people
have to work for long periods of time in a different city. The young people
usually go to study in other cities when they leave the high school. In the
same way, the business people or the universities use this function to have
video chats with their clients or students. Today we see how technology is a
great way to reduce the distance among people who live far away. This TV
commercial effectively shows how useful this application is in daily life.

Music
display functions. In this scene a man is
running in a beautiful park while he is listening to music. The iPhone 5 media
player is shown during the commercial. In the past, there was a series of
portable music displayers designed by different companies including Apple. Many
people live stressful lives and they relax by listening to music. With the
scene of this TV commercial, people can imagine listening to their favorite
songs anywhere using the iPhone 5.

GPS. In this scene, a girl is driving and she is following her GPS to find
an address. The GPS is very helpful for some people and has become
indispensable for others. People use this application to go wherever they want.
With this strategy, the executive will gain more customers interested in buying
the iPhone 5.

CONNECTION
WITH EMOTIONS

One important way to get people interested in a
product is to connect with them emotionally. The TV commercial tries to connect
the human emotions in different ways.

Customs.
At the beginning of the TV commercial, the Senior
Vice President tries to connect with all the people who are using the old
version of the iPhone named iPhone 4. He explains that the iPhone 5 is better
than the older versions, but the design and applications are similar. With this
strategy, he is trying to convince the people that Apple has improved the
product.The iPhone 4 has been very successful. Millions
of people have been using the iPhone 4. All of these people feel comfortable
using the iPhone 4, and it is a challenge to the iPhone´s executives to improve
their cell phone without changing too much their main applications and design. This
strategy is directed to the customers who are using the old version of iPhone. If
they see the TV commercial, they will think that this new version of iPhone is
better than the version they have, and they can change one for the other easily
without suffering a dramatic process of adaptation between one version and the
other. They maintain the fidelity to the product.

Family
Affection. In the scene of the TV commercial
with the mother and her newborn, the executives are trying to connect with human
emotions. People imagine reducing the distance among family members who live
far away, or in some cases the children live in a different house apart from their
mother or father. So, the emotional support is very important for the humans.
In this TV commercial Apple tries to touch the sensibility of the customers.
People who are experiencing a similar situation will be identified with the iPhone
5.

Friendship
/ Sharing. The scene where a man takes a
picture of his friends playing basketball and then uploads to Facebook is a
clear representation of how the cell phone can be used to share information
instantly. In our globalized world the social media has become an important way
to keep the relationships active. Nowadays, it is common to know people who
have traveled around the world, and they usually have many friends from
different countries. However, they maintain contact in real time using the iPhone
5. In the TV commercial this strategy works very well because it is aimed to
many people of different ages, and nationalities who consider friendship
something important to their life.

OFFER OF A RELIABLE
CELL PHONE

The use of some experts to explain the quality of
the product is another strategy used by Apple to offer credibility to the
product.

Experts.
The main stars of the TV commercial are
Apple's high executives. During the different scenes, the executives explain
the main features of the iPhone 5. Each executive is an expert in the area he
is talking about. For instance, the Design Senior Vice President, Jony Ive,
provides details about the design improvements of the iPhone 5. Then, the
Senior Vice President, Bob Mansfield, talks about all the new functions that
the iPhone 5 provides. Finally, the Software Senior Vice President, Scott Forstall,
explains details of each application of the iPhone 5. This strategy is very
effective because it provides details and information of what the cell phone
can do. In the same way the TV commercial offers credibility to the product
when the people can hear these characteristics of the cell phone directly from
its designers.

The
creation process. This is another important
point in the TV commercial. Apple shows some parts of the making process of the
cell phone. With this strategy Apple provides technical information about the
different pieces and materials of the iPhone 5.People can see that the product is made with high technology
machines and high quality materials. This offers reliability in buying a
quality cell phone.

The TV commercial for the iPhone 5 is a successful example of how advertising
strategies work. Each detail is taken into account to communicate the right
message to customers in the most effective way. The TV commercial shows several
characteristics of the iPhone 5, with Apple´s executives focusing on people´s
needs. Apple offers multifunctional, high quality cell phones that provide
solutions to daily life problems. It is likely that many people who watch this
TV commercial will want to buy the iPhone 5.